Selling a Cerbera

[Bobo W]

Unfortunately we're in the process of selling our Cerbera but aside from an initial flurry of interest there's been diddly squat since. It's got all the features I would be looking for if buying again so I find the state of the market quite perplexing.

How long a piece of string question but roughly how long does it take to sell a car in current market conditions ?

At the entry point of the market (£10k to £14k) does asking price have a major bearing or put another way what sort of range of prices would you have thought a buyer would be considering ?

Is there a separate market for V8's and Speed 6's ?

What are the sale differentiators - I thought we'd got these covered off TVRSH, Engine rebuild, low mileage etc but is there anything else we can emphasise.

Thanks in advance

[dave tvr]

Which one is yours mate ? I couldn't see your name on any of them .

[Englishman]

Bobo W said:

What are the sale differentiators - I thought we'd got these covered off TVRSH, Engine rebuild, low mileage etc but is there anything else we can emphasise.

Condition - chassis, paintwork and interior trim. I know when I was looking 'excellent condition' often meant rust on the chassis and/or scratched (or worse) paintwork and tatty interior. If it is top quality in all aspects then say so.

You may also want to mention who did the rebuild. If its one of the top builders it will give prospective buyers confidence.

[Rochester TVR]

Assuming yours is the blue one at £16,495.

I would say that selling a cerbera is a patience game more than a price one. Yours seems to be well looked after example with a lot of useful upgrades and money spent recently.

To improve the ad you could list out all the services with dates / costs and work done. You could also get some better photos, how about gettting it on a 4 post lift and take a picture of the new outriggers, also a photo of the engine is nice to see too.

Maybe investing in a set of spiders may help? I've noticed that Cerbs fitted with spiders generally sell quicker even if their driveability is questionable.

Good luck.

[dave tvr]

If it is the blue cerb then I agree with some of the above, spiders do sell, pictures of the engine bay preferably with the panel off to see chassis and all those stainless pipes and silicon ones. Also agree with the pictures of the chassis, who done it and importantly how were the outriggers done? If the chassis was overhauled then was this a body lift rather than cutting holes in the floor to weld, what was overhauled ? Main rails ? The hole chassis? If its all clean and shinny then show it off !!!
As a personal small thing I would change the indicators to clear ones, a bit more modern I think and lastly a picture of the interior from a short distance with the door open to show how the blue interior goes with the blue outside.
Some of this I think is good for people who live a long drive away who want to see as much as possible before viewing.
Clean up /polish that rocker cover !!

[Bobo W]

I wasn't sure of posting rules about direct links to adds so was deliberately vague. For the moment however we've dropped the add from PH / Autotrader while we review our approach and then will resubmit alongside an advert in Sprint.

We hadn't included any pictures of the chassis / rebuild so will do that. Pardon my ignorance but what are spiders ?

Is there a danger of pricing too low, does that send the wrong signals ?

[Pursyluv]

Not that I'm after a Cerb, but 3 things that I immediately notice when browsing the classifieds are no Spyders, orange indicators and exhausts that stick out too far or are mis-aligned. If these are okay I'll read on .................a bit shallow, but it's what gets my attention!

[Gerradi]

Bobo I sold mine back in May, had a few time waster's.

I put 75 photo's on Photobucket & 2 videos. I then asked perspective buyers which parts of the car they wanted to see/hear then put it into the account. I opened a separate folder for them & sent a password ,much easier than trying to mail all those etc .

I showed every service it had had from new & all the work rebuilds , clutches ,brakes every thing...
Much prefer this than having someone mooching about who cannot decide if they want a TVR ,Maserati or Diesel BmW...Good luck with it.

[dave tvr]

Spider wheels , this car has them -




http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...

[Byker28i]

All this talk of spiders. I think these are a personal choice and there's a mix of opinions on them, some may be put off if they've read the stories of cracking, kerbing issues etc.

I wouldn't bother investing in more parts that you won't get the money back on, and as the others have said, it's up to you to emphasise why yours is the best out there. Why should someone pick yours over another, possibly cheaper one. What makes yours better value for the money.

[Byff]

Bobo W said:

IPardon my ignorance but what are spiders ?

Your not exactly coming over as a knowledgable seller.

[900T-R]

Bobo W said:

. Pardon my ignorance but what are spiders ?

Horrible, heavy wheels that are seldom round and are compromised for the application as TVR was not just too cheap to have them properly heat treated but also to spec different widths and offsets front/rear.

They happen to look really good though, so the 'image-oriented' buyers tend to go for cars that have them - not long before claiming that TVRs don't handle and they've had to had a wheel straightened for the umpteenth time after hitting a minor pothole.

I just bought a project Tuscan with a friend... and struck a deal for the car without the Spider wheels...

Given the cost of a set of Spiders and 18" tyres I'm not sure you'd get your money's worth from selling the car with them anyway, unless you're desperate to shift the car PDQ.

[Bobo W]

Byff said:

Bobo W said:

IPardon my ignorance but what are spiders ?

Your not exactly coming over as a knowledgable seller.

Thanks for your input, although least I know how to spell knowledgeable

The point of posting is to gain the sage advice of those with more perceived wisdom of which there has been some useful input, so thanks for that.

[Gazzab]

Assuming its a 99 speed 6 then evidence of rebuild and chassis work will help sell it at good money (assuming paint and interior and history good). Otherwise price it to sell?

[thefrog]

I've seen adverts go back as far as April and still advertising.

If you lower the price, I would make it clear it's priced to sell, personally, too low a price makes me think there's a chassis in need of replacement in the short.

[robsco]

Two things I noticed - firstly, the photographs aren't very good. On some of them, half of the car is cut out of the shot. Secondly, it looks awfully like the temperature gauge is showing somewhere into the hundreds.

[Bobo W]

Gazzab said:

Otherwise price it to sell?

Which sounds so simple but it would appear that the level of pricing is relatively inelastic to a point. I come from a school of thought that thinks the price infers a standard so I am reluctant to go too low at the risk of putting prospective buyers off and giving the wrong impression. So on that basis it's more a case of tweaking the offering to be more in line with other successful sales and adjusting expectations as to the length of time cars are selling in these days.

Thanks for everyone's input, although there's a sneaking hope that we don't sell...

[anonymous-user]

Which car is yours? I gather with you saying the advert is currently 'offline' that it can't be the blue one people are referring to in the replies above. I'm looking for one. . .

[Ireland]

The market is definitely slow at the moment

I've mine advertised about a month now and I've only had a handful of calls

I did think on 2 occassions that it was sold but one seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth and the deposit from the other never materialised

Oh and I did have one daft (£6k) offer which I said no to

This one is mine ...

I had expected interest in mine to be less than ones in the UK but I hadn't expected it to be this slow

ETA

Sorry no links to ads.

Edited by Big Al. on Thursday 14th August 22:19

[purpleliability]

Slightly unrelated but Ireland, I notice you have 16" spiders on yours, are these fitted with any spacers?

I have a set of four (different offsets front and rear) but they don't seem to fit. What size are your front brakes and what callipers do you have?

Good luck with the sale, it looks great!